Broc Tickle Grabs Oakland Supercross Lites

Holeshot Broc Tickle on the Kawasaki KX 250 earned his first win of the 2011 AMA Supercross Lites motorcycle racing season during a tough and slippery track race in Oakland. Finishing just behind Tickle in second was teammate Josh Hansen who found his way back to the SX Lites podium.

Tickle has led several laps this year, but Saturday night in Oakland he felt the satisfaction of all those laps led with his first win of the season. He rode smart in the slippery conditions and earned his second Supercross Lites career win.

Bouncing back from a fifth-place finish last week, Hansen made his return to the podium with a solid-second place finish. With three out of four finishes on the podium, he still holds the championship points lead over teammate Tickle by one point.

Broc Tickle (2011 Kawasaki KX 250 F) says: "The break isn’t always easy because you build momentum and then you have two months to think about racing again. I have been in the class for a few years and so has Josh. We are both veterans and I know we both want to win. I think its going to come down to the end because we both"

Josh Hansen (2011 Kawasaki KX 250 F) says: "This week I got beat and didn’t have anything for Broc. I am trying to think about the season as a whole and not do anything stupid that would cost me points. I’m really looking forward to going back to Anaheim next week and be back close to home."

Rattray was nearly back to 100 percent on Saturday as he continues to get back up to speed from a wrist injury that he’s had to race with during the past two weekends. He finished with a solid fifth-place result in his first wet supercross race.

Tyla Rattray (2011 Kawasaki KX 250 F) says: "I’m feeling better every day and I was able to keep it up on two wheels this week. I want to be on the podium, but my main focus has been getting back to 100 percent. I had a podium finish last time we were in Anaheim and hopefully I can do it again when we go back next week."

Three out of the four AMA Supercross Lites Western Region races have been won on the new 2011 Kawasaki KX 250 F. The biggest changes include the fuel injection and separated function forks, making testing in the off-season important for the support team at Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki.

"So far the bike has been great and the riders seem stoked with how the bike performs in general," said Pro Circuit Senior Technician Jim "Bones" Bacon.

"My end is with the forks and once I got a hold of a direction to go with, it’s been better than anything we’ve had so far. We have had a lot of support from Japan (KHI), which has been nice for something new and different like the forks. I don’t think of it as a set of forks anymore, but as the left fork and right fork. It’s definitely a big step forward in technology."

The points battle continues to heat up in the AMA Supercross Lites Western Region series with Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates Hansen and Tickle separated by only one point going into Anaheim 2.

There is plenty of time left for the two to battle it out as the western region still has five main Supercross Lites events left, including a two month break between Feb. and Apr.